


Circle

by marginaliana



Category: The Grand Tour (TV) RPF, Top Gear (UK) RPF
Genre: M/M, somewhat sentimental, yet another fic about those bracelets because who am I even kidding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 20:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9253991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marginaliana/pseuds/marginaliana
Summary: Richard and James notice that Jeremy is wearing a bracelet.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liz_mo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liz_mo/gifts).



Jeremy had just disappeared into a meeting with Andy about one of his solo films when James rolled his chair over to Richard's desk, put a hand on his arm and said, quietly, "Did you notice the—" He waggled his wrist.

"Oh god yes," Richard said immediately, because yeah, he'd been thinking about it all morning, the little flash of silver on Jeremy's wrist, barely noticeable beside the grey of his watch band. A single bracelet, tarnished a little, bright in places and dark in places in a way that implied Jeremy had owned it for a while but was only now starting to wear it. 

They had the chance, now, to renegotiate their image a little – James was obviously being a bit less slow and a bit less humorless, Richard a bit less aggro, and Jeremy, apparently, being a bit less desperately unfashionable. Richard thought the changes were all to the good, really; they'd been stuck in those roles for far too long. But it also meant they needed to renegotiate what they were to each other, and that was proving a bit more difficult.

There had always been a spark between the three of them, a connection that manifested itself sometimes in arguments and sometimes in fevered sex, different combinations of two and three, shouting out on the track, handjobs in alleys behind pubs and rough sex in hotel rooms on location, biting down on his fist to keep from making too much noise. There was nothing wrong with it – they were all three free enough – but it had never been more than fighting or friendship or sex, or fighting _and_ friendship _and_ sex. 

Richard hadn't realized he wanted something else. He hadn't even considered the possibility that there could be something else. But now, with everything broken and only just beginning to re-form, he was beginning to think he couldn't stand being without it.

"What are you thinking?" he said, keeping his voice as low as James' had been.

"Well." James looked a bit shifty, then took a breath and said, "We should each get him one. Then—"

"There would be three of them," Richard finished. "Yeah, that's… yeah. We should do that." He met James' gaze. "Do you want— What I mean is. It would be a commitment."

"Aren't we already committed?" James said. 

Richard swallowed. "Yeah. You're right. We are." He turned his wrist over so that he could catch James' hand and squeeze, just for a moment. "We're going to Namibia on Monday, so. By then?"

"Yes."

\-----

It took Richard a few evenings of searching through secondhand shops to find what he was looking for. He didn't even _know_ what he was looking for, just that it wouldn't be new, and that he'd know it when he saw it. And he did know it – the half-tarnished silver chain, the links a bit thick but made with obvious skill. There was a charm clipped next to the clasp, small enough to pass without notice: a circle, blank. Richard thought the clean surface rather fitting. He bought it then and there, and two minutes later was out of the shop texting James to tell him that he'd found something.

\-----

They invited Jeremy over to James' flat on Saturday night for dinner and a drink or two and a bit of general piss-taking about their beach buggies for Namibia. But when the fish and chips were gone and Jeremy's second beer had been drunk and he was slumped back against the sofa cushions with a soft smile, Richard slid a hand up over his shoulder and said, "We've got something for you."

For a moment Jeremy looked surprised, a shimmer of something unreadable passing over his face. Then it was gone, hidden behind a blank expression that Richard had seen many times before, the one that meant Jeremy didn't know what to think. Richard felt something ease in his chest at the realization that perhaps Jeremy wanted this – not just the sex but everything else – as much as he and James did.

James had put his gift in a plain blue box, unwrapped; he took Jeremy's hand, turned it palm up, and set the box there. Richard pulled his box from his pocket, similarly simple, and put it in Jeremy's other hand. 

"Chaps," Jeremy said. 

"Just open it," said James.

Jeremy dithered between the two boxes and then went for Richard's first, lifting the lid off. Richard could hear his breath catch in his throat when he saw the bracelet. "Rich—" It was almost a sigh. He picked it up and ran his thumb along the links, caught the charm between thumb and forefinger.

"Let me put it on you," Richard said. Jeremy let him take it and then held out his left arm so that Richard could flick open the clasp and close it again around his wrist. Then Jeremy turned to James' box; Richard hadn't actually seen what James had bought, but he wasn't entirely surprised to see that it was silver like his, similarly half-tarnished, a spiral that wound its way from one end to the other. Jeremy ran a fingernail down the length of it, clicking over each ridge in turn. He lifted his head to give James a look and though Richard couldn't see his face, whatever was written there made James raise a hand and press his palm to Jeremy's cheek. When he took it away, it was only to reach for the bracelet, spinning the clasp open and wrapping it around Jeremy's wrist before he closed it again. 

"Now there are three of them," Richard said. The bracelets looked good, one beside the next beside the next, silver and grey and the tan of Jeremy's skin in the evening light.

Jeremy looked down and his right hand came up to circle around his wrist, touching all three of the bracelets together. "Thank you," he said, low and husky, and then, "Kiss me, for Christ's sake." 

Richard leaned in and James leaned in, and the three of them came together.


End file.
